Students at The University of Nottingham are being encouraged to invite their neighbours around for tea, as part of a campaign to further improve their relationship with the local community.

Taking place on Wednesday 20 March, students will be encouraged to push postcards through their neighbours letterboxes with strawberry teabags attached. It is hoped that by posting the cards, people will feel less daunted about introducing themselves.

Organised by four current students, the ‘Be a Sweet Neighbour’ campaign focuses on three main areas: respect, friendship and security. Organiser Catherine Scale explained: “Not only is there an excellent social advantage to knowing your neighbours, but also a security benefit.

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Respect, friendship and security

“If you are friendly with your neighbours it is much more likely that they will be aware and concerned about anything that happens to your house when you are not there. This could be from something as small as your bins being left out to your burglar alarm going off.”

The campaign is run by the Off-Campus Student Affairs Team, which works to strengthen relationships between students and the community. Students are then encouraged to take ownership of the campaign as part of the University’s employability mark – the Nottingham Advantage Award.

Zoe Baker a Graduate Trainee from Off-Campus Student Affairs, said: “I am really pleased with the campaign these students are managing this year. I think there are plenty of benefits of getting to know your neighbours - the community will be friendlier, the neighbourhood safer and the area a nicer and more respectable place to live.”

Nottingham in Bloom

Organisers have chosen to launch the campaign on the same day as ‘Nottingham in Bloom’ opens. The gardening competition helps to make the city a cleaner and greener place to live, work and visit, by encouraging the Nottingham community to improve their gardens and to show their pride in their local area.

Catherine continued: “Looking back on my own experience of living off-campus, I believe I would have greatly benefited from getting more involved in my local community of Lenton.

“Both ‘Be a Sweet Neighbour’ and ‘Nottingham in Bloom’ initiatives are a great way to help make your community a nicer place to live and expand your experiences away from the University campus ‘bubble’.

“Sharing a cup of tea through the ‘Be a Sweet Neighbour’ initiative is an ideal way to break the ice with your neighbours. The traditional English cup of tea provides a great accompaniment to an excellent conversation and is the perfect starting point for getting to know your neighbours.”

University of Nottingham students and members of the community are invited to come along to the launch of the ‘Be a Sweet Neighbour’ campaign, which will be running in the Portland Building Atrium, University Park between 11am and 2pm on Wednesday 20 March 2013.

Photo opportunity between 11am and 2pm on Wednesday 30 March with a student dressed in a strawberry costume, as well as students handing out postcards with strawberry tea bags to promote the scheme.

Notes to editors: The University of Nottinghamhas 42,000 students at award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It was ‘one of the first to embrace a truly international approach to higher education’, according to the Sunday Times University Guide 2013. It is also one of the most popular universities among graduate employers, one of the world’s greenest universities, and winner of the Times Higher Education Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution to Sustainable Development’. It is ranked in the UK’s Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong and the QS World Rankings.

More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise. The University aims to be recognised around the world for its signature contributions, especially in global food security, energy & sustainability, and health. The University won a Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education for its research into global food security.